LIfe After Childbirth

Life after childbirth is nothing like life before. By the time you go into labor, you are so ready to be un-pregnant that you could care less about anything that happens to you or your body after baby comes out because you are too busy thinking that nothing could be worse than carrying around a full-term baby inside of your body.

Now, five months later, let me tell you, I long for the pre-pregnancy days. The most obvious complaint is the belly that never goes away no matter what, even while breastfeeding. I know I don't have too much room to complain here, as some women gain a lot of weight while pregnant. I gained the usual thirty and lost it again easily after having my baby but my middle-self, that place where my belly button resides, just seems as though it will never be... the same. I now rock a fluffy and pillowy bulge where my stomach used to be and while that may be nice for baby's comfy naps with mommy, I could do without.

Well, it was ma birthday

Birthdays... ah, what do they mean anyway? Now that I have given birth-- shot another entire human being right out of my hooty-hoo-- I have come to appreciate birthdays even more than ever!!!

So far the day that I experienced the amazing sight of my child being pulled (by my husband) out of my body is the best day of my life-- that moment the best moment of my life. I am happy to celebrate it every year until I die. The birth of a person really is worth stopping to appreciate at least once a year!

So stop, now, and appreciate my birth. NOW!

Birthdays are just another excuse, like every other holiday not to spend money, as you were anticipating me to say, but to appreciate another human being. And I have to admit that I felt very appreciated this year! My husband treated me like a goddess, putting a lot of love and thoughtfulness into my day and the rest of my family made sure I knew I was loved and cared about as well.

So now it is the day after my birthday and I still feel ten feet tall because all my favorite people took time on my special day to let me know they love me-- and I love them too!

I am the worst about forgetting or mixing up my friends' birthdays but I'm going to try to do better because it feels so nice to be remembered, although I don't particularly expect people to remember, as I never do!

So happy unbirthday to all you (one or two) readers-- birthday or not, take some time to appreciate someone special soon; make someone feel like it's their birthday as soon and as often as you can!

Upcoming Day of Honor

I come from a lineage of great dads.

From as far back as the stories go, I can see that my family is rich in fathers who put time and love into their kids.

I am glad there is a day of honor for fathers, especially this year, as my husband is first-timer. Last year we were pregnant with our girl; this year he can truly claim fatherhood and I am proud of him in his new role.

I am also happy to honor my dad. He was the hands-on dad who took us camping and biking, taught us how to swim, and gave us a great example on how to be honest and hardworking. Now he is a first-timer too: a grandfather.

It's true that some men do hardly more than supply the winning gamete in the adventure of raising children but there are plenty of men who do a lot more. Plenty of men dig right in and get their hands dirty with their kids. Men sit down to the table and help for hours with homework, men take the kids on adventures, men cook, clean, and change diapers. Both my dad and my husband fit into that category and I believe they deserve an entire day of honor every year for it.

My husband did not grow up knowing his father and there were times as we were getting ready to become parents that I wondered how he would know to be a good father. I was raised by a Class-A dad as well as an awesome mom so I felt like I had a good feel for how to love my child. How does a fatherless man know what his role is as a father? My questions have been answered as he fell right into being a dad. He has embraced fatherhood with full force, his love for our girl grows daily. I have no more worries, needless to say, about his capacity for fatherly love. He clearly loves our baby as much as I do and our love for each other grows because of it.

So, here we are, a family now, complete with both of our experiences and histories coming together to create a new flavor of child rearing unique to our family. Dedicating a day to fathering is really great, but we should never take good fathers for granted. I am thankful for my own dad and for my husband every day of the year.

So if you have great dads in your life, enjoy honoring them this Sunday!

Welcome~

Hello and welcome to my blog.

I am here to voice some thoughts from my own perspective on the world as a young new mother. Now that I have an amazing child to raise and send out into the world, the things that I worried about before have become even more real to me. The picture just became so much bigger now that I have generations in the future that I am responsible for. I am not worried about my girl scraping her knee or bumping her head as she grows up. I am worried about my girl struggling like I do to find good and affordable health insurance while she is raising her children, I worry about my future grandchildrens' quality of life as we deplete the ozone layer, as the polar icecaps melt, as we continue recklessly and selfishly gobbling up the resources of the earth, and I worry for my daughter's future in America when, as a culture our children are raised by television and computers, junk food and slovenness. I worry that my daughter will fall prey to the wide-spread illusions that people believe as reality about beauty and worth, money and power.

I am a concerned mother who is taking an opportunity to speak out against the problems that I see unfolding like a ground-cover around our feet. Some people find the foliage to be lovely while I notice it wrapping our ankles, feet, and legs, essentially trapping us in our footsteps toward the future.

If you are concerned about these things too, this is the place for you to tune in and gather strength in knowing that although it feels like it, you are not alone! There are other concerned people out here trying to make a difference too.

This blog will basically diary my journey-- all of our journeys-- into that future as our feet get heavier...

I hope to stir your mind. I hope to stir the pot.